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Orleans Selectmen Chafe At North Beach Sticker Plan
by Alan Pollock ORLEANS — The town fathers in Orleans are battling a case of sticker shock over Chatham’s plans to issue coveted camp owner ORV permits to the same people who held them last season, even if their camps are now destroyed or uninhabitable. Two weeks ago, Chatham’s parks and recreation commission agreed to issue beach access stickers for one more year to anyone who held a camp owner sticker last year, allowing those people the privilege of accessing the beach even if the daily vehicle cap has been reached. Only two camp owners, William Hammatt and John Kelley, would be allowed the second privilege of a camp owner’s permit providing, access to their camps during shorebird closures. Hammatt and Kelley own the only remaining habitable camps in the First Village. Chatham parks and recreation commission Chairman Gary Anderson sent a letter to Orleans officials last month indicating that North Beach Island will now be unilaterally managed by the town of Chatham, not jointly managed by the two towns, as the area was when it was connected to the mainland and accessible only through Orleans. Meeting last Wednesday as the town’s park commissioners, Orleans selectmen heard a report from Parks and Beaches Superintendent Paul Fulcher, who said Chatham issued 49 camp owner permits for the First Village last year, and 61 for the Second Village. “My only concern, I guess, is for the Second Village, giving out 61 camp owner stickers to people who can no longer get to their house. But on weekends when we have to close down because we’ve reached the vehicle limit, these camp owner stickers would still be able to go out and use the beach, even though they have no place to go,” Fulcher said. He said he would be particularly uncomfortable denying an Orleans resident access to the beach because a Second Village camp owner was there first. The problem is more acute, Fulcher said, because of the limited number of weekends in the summer when ORV access is allowed on the beach. Last season, shorebird closures meant no ORV access to the beach on all but four weekends. “We were turning traffic away,” Fulcher said. Selectman David Dunford suggested making some accommodation for the camp owners. “Is it at all feasible to basically cordon off a hundred yards, or something of the sort, that would be available only if those camp owners decide to come?” he asked. “Again, then, that’s 100 yards that we don’t get to use for other people that have paid $250 or $180” for an ORV sticker, Fulcher replied. Orleans realizes significant revenue from the sale of ORV permits. “We’ve lost substantial revenue down there,” Selectman Jon Fuller said. Sticker sales will suffer if ORV users think there won’t be space for them on the beach, he said. “People won’t buy those stickers if they have that worry,” Fuller said. If Chatham issues 110 camp owner permits this year, “that could virtually tie up the whole beach with no payments at all,” he said. Dunford said it might be time for Orleans to revisit its intermunicipal beach management agreement with Chatham, instead of waiting for it to come up for renewal in the fall. “Personally, I think we should’ve talked about this maybe four months ago,” Dunford said. Fulcher said he believes Orleans has the right to abandon the intermunicipal agreement (IMA), in light of Chatham’s decision to assert sole management over North Beach Island. “If I looked at it from a lawyer’s point of view, by them changing the rules and regulations, I’d say they’ve changed the IMA, so therefore the IMA is dead, so they don’t even have access—any of them—to get to the properties,” Fulcher said. He proposed agreeing to Chatham’s proposal to issue 49 camp owner stickers to people in the First Village, but not for those on North Beach Island. “I think that is a legitimate compromise,” Fulcher said. Contacted this week, Anderson said he believes the Orleans board is overreacting to his board’s decision, and better communication between the boards would ease the situation. The Chatham parks and recreation commission was set to meet on the matter this week, after The Chronicle’s press time. “I’m sure a simple compromise is in order,” Anderson said.
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